Mystery in Art

Mystery in Art
The world of myth and mystery

“The Scream” is a world famous painting created by the Expressionist
Edvard Munc between 1893 and 1910. This is the popular name given to
each of four versions of a composition. Der Schrei der Natur (The
Scream of Nature) is the title that Munch gave to these works, all of which
show a figure with an agonized expression against a landscape with an
orange sky. Arthur Lubow has described The Scream as “an icon of modern
art, a Mona Lisa for our time.”
In Munc’s diary, he described his inspiration for the image:
One evening I was walking along a path, the city was on one side and the
fjord below. I felt tired and ill. I stopped and looked out over the fjord—the
sun was setting, and the clouds turning blood red. I sensed a scream
passing through nature; it seemed to me that I heard the scream. I painted
this picture, painted the clouds as actual blood. The color shrieked. This
became “The Scream”.
Of course this marvellous painting has been the target for many
thieves through the years. In 1994, two men tried to steal the painting from
the National Gallery in Oslo and in 2004 thieves tried to steal as many
paintings as they could from the Munc’s Museum in Oslo.
Edvard Munc - The Scream

Edvard Munc
Edvard Munc (12 December 1863 - 23 January 1944) was a Norwegian painter. He was an
Expressionist of the late 19th century.
He was the son of Christian Munc and Laura Cathrine Bjølstad. Munc lost his mother when
he was very young, so he and his siblings were raised by his father. In 1879, Munch enrolled in a
technical college to study engineering, where he excelled in physics, chemistry, and maths. He learned
scaled and perspective drawing, but frequent illnesses interrupted his studies. The following year,
much to his father's disappointment, Munc left the college determined to become a painter. His father
viewed art as an “unholy trade”. In contrast to his father's rabid pietism, Munc adopted an undogmatic
stance toward art, writing in his diary his simple goal: “in my art I attempt to explain life and its
meaning to myself.”
With “The Scream”, Munc met his stated goal of "the study of the soul, that is to say the
study of my own self".He also described the personal anguish behind the painting, “for several years I
was almost mad… You know my picture, “The Scream?” I was stretched to the limit—nature was
screaming in my blood… After that I gave up hope ever of being able to love again.”
During 1930 and 1940, as the Nazi did not accept his paintings, they took away all of his
paintings from the museums. He stayed in a studio in Oslo, where he died on 23 January 1944.
- Eleni Georgiou

In this painting Salvador Dali gives us a large egg-shaped
globe of the world out of which a man is struggling to "hatch".
This "new man" is coming out of North America - the United
States. There is blood running out of the crack in the egg and
the new man's hand has England firmly in its grasp. In the
foreground two figures are watching; one an adult the other a
small child. The adult, of indeterminate sex, is drawing the
child's attention by pointing at the new man being birthed.
The child is standing as if afraid - both hiding behind and
holding on to the adult's knees.
“People love mystery, and that is why they love my paintings.”
Thats what the famous artist told ,this is why the painting
became so famous.
http://salvadordalipaintings.blogspot.com/2008/09/geopoliticu
s-child-watching-birth-of.html
Constantinos Patsalis
Salvador Dali - Geopoliticus child watching the birth
of the New Man

Salvador Dali
Salvador Felipe Jacinto Dali I Domenech was born at 8:45 on the morning of
May 11, 1904 in the small agricultural town of Figueres, Spain. Figueres is
located in the foothills of the Pyrenees, only sixteen miles from the French
border in the principality of Catalonia. The son of a prosperous notary, Dali
spent his boyhood in Figueres and at the family’s summer home in the coastal
fishing village of Cadaques where his parents built his first studio. As an adult,
he made his home with his wife Gala in nearby Port Lligat. Many of his
paintings reflect his love of this area of Spain.
In the history of art, most people could easily argue that Salvador Dalí is the
father of surrealistic art. Surrealism is the art of writing or painting unreal or
unpredictable works of art using the images or words from an imaginary world.
Dali's art is the definition of surrealism. Throughout his art he clearly elaborates
on juxtaposition (putting similar images near each other), the disposition

The painting displays a fact, of which both
the human and the political dimension
interested the painter: The shipwreck of the
French frigate "Meduse" on the coast of
Africa in 1816. Gericault investigated the
history of the shipwreck wrote in depth: He
read the brochure that two of the survivors
of the shipwreck wrote, visited hospitals
where survivors were getting healed and
morgues which were the bodies of the dead
buried, dropped a raft into the sea to
determine how it acted in the waves and
drew numerous sketches before reaching
the final drawing.
Theodore Gericault- The raft of the medusa

Theodore Gericault
Theodore Gericault was born in Rouen, France in 1791. In 1808 he was educated in the tradition of
English sporting art by Charles Vernetand and classical figure composition by Pierre-Narcisse Guérin,
a rigorous classicist who disapproved of his student's impulsive temperament yet recognized his talent.
When he left the classroom, he chose to study at the Louvre, where from 1810 to 1815 he copied
paintings by Rubens, Titian, Velázquez and Rembrandt. The artist was fascinated with horses, which
were his most common theme, the conflict between man and animal. In 1812 he exposes the project
"The Charging Chausseur" at the Paris Salon and wins the gold medal . In two years, Theodore exposes
the "Wounded Cuirassiers" and gets treated with coldness . The next year, he gets in relationship with
Alexantrin - Modeste Cartel. The next year Gericault participates in the competition for the prize of
Rome, but fails. He returns in France in September next year, and next August, Alexantrin gives him a
son . To avoid scandal, his father forces her to move to the countryside. In 1819, the painting "The Raft
of Medusa " goes almost unnoticed by the Salon. The next year, however, Theodore exposes it to the
Egyptian Hall of London, where it stays for about a year. He returns next year in Paris with poor

Guernica is a painting by Pablo Picasso which was created having in mind the bombing
in Guernica,a village in (northern)Spain,by German&Italian war planes during the
Spanish Civil War(1937).This painting shows the tragedies of war and the suffering that
fetch in particularly to innocent civilians.Also,Guernica displayed as an anti-war
symbol,an embodiment of peace and it has gained as a monumental status.Although it
was painted in Paris,where firstly the exhibit was exhibited before being placed in the
care of the Museum of Modern Art.Guernica is one of the reasons how the specific war
was known.Now Guernica is at it’s current location at the Museum Reina Sofia in 1992.
Picasso - Guernica

Guernica
-Antonia Kattouhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guernica_(painting)

● Mona lisa was painted by Leonardo da vinci
an italian artist who lived in 1452-
1519.Mona lisa is the most recognised
painting in the world and you can find it at
the louvre museum in france.
● It is believed that Leonardo painted Mona
Lisa because he was requested by
Francesco del Giocondo who was Mona
Lisas husband.The painting is believed to
have been done between 1503 and 1506.
George Efrem
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Lisa
Leonardo da Vinci - Mona Lisa

Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso was born on 25 October 1881 and he died on 8 April 1973 at the
age of 91.He was a Spanish painter,a poet,a sculptor,a ceramist,a playwriting,a
stage designer and a printmaker who spent most of his adult life in France.He
belongs to the ‘family’ of the greatest and most influential artists in the world
and he’s known for co-founding the Cubist movement, the invention of
constructed sculpture and the co-invention of collage.Also,Picasso produced
work in neoclassical and cubism style.Pablo is considered to be one of the most
influential painter of his time because of his significant contribution to the
formation and development of modern and contemporary art.
-Antonia Kattou http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Picasso

Leonardo da Vinci
● Leonardo da vinci was a painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician,
engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist,cartographer, botanist, and writer. His genius,
perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal.
● Leonardo was, and is, renowned primarily as a painter. Among his works, the Mona
Lisa is the most famous painting.
● Leonardo was born on April 15, 1452, in the Tuscan hill town of Vinci, in the lower valley
of the Arno River in the territory of the Medici-ruled Republic of Florence.
● Despite the recent awareness and admiration of Leonardo as a scientist and inventor,
for the better part of four hundred years his fame rested on his achievements as a
painter and on a handful of works, either authenticated or attributed to him that have
been regarded as among the masterpieces.
George Efrem
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci

Peter Paul Rubens - Massacre of the Innocents

Edgar Degas - Woman in the bath

Raphael - The school of Athens

By not painting the fingers of God and Adam touching and leaving a small space between the two, Michelangelo
creates a tingling tension, an anticipation of that wonderous moment, as we all wait for God to complete his
Creation of Adam.The figures on the Sistine ceiling reflect Michelangelo’s firmly held belief that the body should
be celebrated as a reflection of both divine beauty and the beauty of the human soul.
But if we take a closer look into the painting we’ll notice that the larger image encompassing God is compatible
with a brain. Michelangelo portrays that what God is giving to Adam is the intellect, and thus man is able to "plan
the best and highest" and to "try all things received". - Carolina Papademetriou
http://www.wellcorps.com/Explaining-The-Hidden-Meaning-Of-Michelangelos-Creation-of-Adam.html
http://www.rome.info/michelangelo/sistine-chapel/creation-of-adam/
http://www.learner.org/courses/globalart/work/78/index.html
Michaelangelo - The creation of Adam
Completed by Michelangelo circa 1511, it
depicts God the father creating Adam, the
first man and was amongst the last
panels to be completed, telling the story
of Genesis. The focal point of the episode
of the Creation of Adam painting is the
contact between the fingers of God and
those of Adam, through which the breath
of life is transmitted.

Michelangelo
Michelangelo was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer of the High Renaissance.
He was born on 6 March 1475 in Caprese near Arezzo, Tuscany.As a young boy Michelangelo was
sent to Florence to study grammar under the Humanist Francesco da Urbino. The young artist,
however, showed no interest in his schooling, preferring to copy paintings from churches and seek the
company of painters.In 1488, at thirteen, Michelangelo was apprenticed to Ghirlandaio.When in 1489,
Lorenzo de' Medici, de facto ruler of Florence, asked Ghirlandaio for his two best pupils, Ghirlandaio
sent Michelangelo and Francesco Granacci. From 1490 to 1492, Michelangelo attended the Humanist
academy which the Medici had founded along Neo Platonic lines. At the academy, both
Michelangelo's outlook and his art were subject to the influence of many of the most prominent
philosophers and writers of the day including Marsilio Ficino, Pico della Mirandola and Poliziano.In
1496 Michelangelo moves to Rome. One of his first major assignments is for the well-known Pietà in
St. Peter's basilica. Michelangelo returned to Florence in 1499. He responded by completing his most
famous work, the Statue of David, in 1504.Also during this period, Michelangelo was commissioned by
Angelo Doni to paint a "Holy Family" as a present for his wife.

Michelangelo
In 1505, Michelangelo was invited back to Rome by the newly elected Pope Julius II. He was
commissioned to build the Pope's tomb, which was to include forty statues and be finished in five
years.During the same period, Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, which took
approximately four years to complete
Michelangelo died in Rome in 1564, at the age of 88 (three weeks before his 89th birthday). His body
was taken from Rome for interment at the Basilica of Santa Croce, fulfilling the maestro's last request
to be buried in his beloved Florence. - Carolina Papademetriou
http://www.artbible.info/art/biography/michelangelo-buonarroti
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelangelo

The Execution of Emperor Maximilian is a
series of paintings by Édouard Manet from 1867
to 1869, depicting the execution by firing squad
of Emperor Maximilian I of the short-lived Second
Mexican Empire. Manet produced three large oil
paintings, a smaller oil sketch and a lithograph of
the same subject. All five works were brought
together for an exhibition in London and
Mannheim in 1992-3, and at the Museum of
Modern Art in New York in 2006.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Execution_of_E
mperor_Maximilian
-Kyriaki Michael
Edouard Manet - The Execution of Emperor
Maximilian

Edouard Monet
Born into a bourgeois household in Paris, France, in 1832, Edouard Manet was fascinated by painting
at a young age. His parents disapproved of his interest, but he eventually went to art school and
studied the old masters in Europe.By the time of his death, in 1883, he was a respected revolutionary
artist.
One of the first nineteenth century artists to approach modern-life subjects, he was a pivotal figure in
the transition from Realism to Impressionism.
His early masterworks The Luncheon on the Grass and Olympia engendered great controversy, and
served as rallying points for the young painters who would create Impressionism-today these are
considered watershed paintings that mark the genesis of modern art.
http://www.manetedouard.org/
http://www.biography.com/people/edouard-manet-9397188
~Kyriaki Michael

Caravaggio got the idea of the painting in 1591 althought the
paintings were first reported around 10 years later.It repserents the life
cycle of saint mattew the apostol,one of the 12 folowers of Jesus
Christ.The 3 paintings are “Saint mattew and the Angel”,”The calling of
st.Matthew” and “The martydom of st.Matthew”.These 3 paintings are
now at the Contarelli Chapel.The Contarel Chapel is located within the
church of San Luigi dei Franseci in Rome. These paintings,under
some lucky coincidences,suddently exploaded Caravaggio’s
reputation from an unknown artist to one of the most influencial realists
of his time!one of his major influences to make the paintings was
Michaelangelo,undoubtly one of the greatest artists of all time.
Caravaggio - the Calling of Saint Matthew

Now lets take a closer look into the painting.Firstly you will notice
the fact that the masterpiece has a lot of details ,thats why it was
part of the realistic age(school of thought-realists) and the
positioning of the protagonists seems very natural.The painting
can be split into two sides,right and left where on the right stands
Christ and st.Peter( another one of Christ followers).The way the
light is saturated into the room,its like Jesus spears the room
with a beam of light .On the left side,we can se a group of people
aroud a small table counting taxes.We can see st.Peter pointing
at someone,possibly the bearded man and we can also see the
expresion of suprise in his face.Now,thats the point when the
controverses begin!

We can all see the bearded man pointing at someone but nobody can
really tell at who.Somepeople
believe that he is pointing at himself,like asking st.Peter “Me?” but
others think that he is actually
pointing at the young man counting the taxes saying suprised
”Him?”So we are still unsure of who st.
Matthew really is,the bearded guy or the young one?What do you
think?
Also as you can see ,the young man seems to be counting the taxes
with two hands but if you look
more closely,the left hand isnt actually his!There are a lot of theories
about that but one thing is sure!
Caravaggio loved to put little details in his paintings that created
mysteries and misunderstandings!
And thats what makes him one of the most infuential and talented
artists of his time!
Sources*SOURCES*
➔
http://www.artble.com/artists/caravaggio/paintings/the_call
ing_of_saint_matthew
➔ http://northcathedral.wordpress.com/2013/09/21/107/
➔ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CaravaggioContarelli.jpg
➔
http://duluxdreams.wordpress.com/2012/06/28/caravaggio-
the-calling-of-st-matthew/4
➔ http://all-art.org/history252-4.htML
➔ http://wikipedia.com
photos from:
➔ http://google.com
➔ http://wikipedia.com
Thank you
:Constantinos Vasiliou

Caravaggio
Michelangelo Merisi o Amerighi da Caravaggio ( 1571
– 1610) was an Italian artist active in many italian
cities between 1592 and 1610. His paintings, combine
a realistic observation of the human state, both
physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of
lighting.He belongs to the realistic school of art.He was
a famous and respected artist when he was
alive.Even thought,when he died he got forgotten but
he was recognised for his talent some centuries after.

Caravaggio’s work
Caravaggio is described as enigmatic, fascinating, rebellious and dangerous.And his character
affected his work and thats what made him really different.In 1599, presumably through the
influence of Del Monte, Caravaggio was contracted to decorate the Contarelli Chapel in the
church of San luigiThe two works making up the commission, the Martyrdom of Saint Matthew
and Calling of Saint Matthew, delivered in 1600, were an immediate sensation.He is often
described as the best Roman artist of his time.His greatest influence was Michelangelo and we
can see the affect of him in some details of his paintings.He is the artist that made Medusa.
He is also known for St.Matthew’s cycle.He died out of fever.Caravaggio's epitaph was
composed by his friend Marzio Milesi. It reads:"Michelangelo Merisi, son of Fermo di
Caravaggio – in painting not equal to a painter, but to Nature itself

Sources
http://www.caravaggio-
foundation.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caravag
gio
https://www.google.com.cy/search?q
=medusa+caravaggio

Starry Night is a painting by the Dutch post-
impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh. Starry
night was painted in June 1889, it depicts the
view outside of his sanitarium room window at
Saint-Rémy-de-Provence (located in southern
France) at night, although it was painted from
memory during the day. It has been in the
permanent collection of the Museum of Modern
Art in New York City, part of the Lillie P. Bliss
Bequest, since 1941. The painting is among Van
Gogh's most well-known works and marks a
decisive turn towards greater imaginative
freedom in his art.
Vincent Van Gogh - Starry night

In a letter written to Émile Bernard in April 1888, Van Gogh
expressed his desire to paint the night sky, and questioned
whether he could achieve his intention by painting from nature
as the Impressionists did:
The imagination is certainly a faculty which we must
develop and it alone can bring us to creation of a more exalting
and consoling nature ... A star-spangled sky, for instance, that's a
thing I would like to try to do ... But how can I manage unless I
make up my mind to work ... from imagination?

In May 1889, Van Gogh decided to enter the asylum at Saint-Rémy, where he
stayed for the next year. His time there was very productive, although
interrupted by incapacitating nervous attacks. Inspired by the landscape
surrounding the asylum, he painted Starry Night in June 1889. Unlike the
earlier Starry Night Over the Rhone, the new night scene was painted in
daylight, from memory. In mid-September 1889, following a heavy crisis which
lasted from mid-July to the last days of August, he thought to include Starry
NiIn September 1888, before his December breakdown that resulted in his
hospitalisation in Arles, he painted Starry Night Over the Rhone. Working by
night under a gas lamp, Van Gogh painted this work directly from nature. "It
does me good to do what's difficult, "Van Gogh wrote, "That doesn’t stop me
having a tremendous need for, shall I say the word—for religion—so I go
outside at night to paint the stars."

Vincent Van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) was a post-Impressionist
painter of Dutch origin whose work, notable for its rough beauty, emotional honesty
and bold color, had a far-reaching influence on 20th-century art. After years of painful
anxiety and frequent bouts of mental illness, he died aged 37 from a gunshot wound,
generally accepted to be self-inflicted (although no gun was ever found).His work was
then known to only a handful of people and appreciated by fewer still.
Van Gogh began to draw as a child, and he continued to draw throughout the years
that led up to his decision to become an artist. He did not begin painting until his late
twenties, completing many of his best-known works during the last two years of his
life. In just over a decade, he produced more than 2,100 artworks, consisting of 860
oil paintings and more than 1,300 watercolors, drawings, sketches and prints. His
work included self portraits, landscapes, still lifes, portraits and paintings of cypresses,
wheat fields and sunflowers.

Van Gogh spent his early adulthood working for a firm of art dealers, traveling between The
Hague, London and Paris, after which he taught for a time in England at Isleworth and
Ramsgate. One of his early aspirations was to become a pastor and from 1879 he worked
as a missionary in a mining region in Belgium where he began to sketch people from the
local community. In 1885, he painted his first major work The Potato Eaters. His palette at
the time consisted mainly of somber earth tones and showed no sign of the vivid coloration
that distinguished his later work. In March 1886, he moved to Paris and discovered the
French Impressionists. Later, he moved to the south of France and was influenced by the
strong sunlight he found there. His work grew brighter in color, and he developed the
unique and highly recognizable style that became fully realized during his stay in Arles in
1888.
The extent to which his mental health affected his painting has been a subject of
speculation since his death. Despite a widespread tendency to romanticize his ill health,
modern critics see an artist deeply frustrated by the inactivity and incoherence brought
about by his bouts of illness. According to art critic Robert Hughes, Van Gogh's late works
show an artist at the height of his ability, completely in control and "longing for concision
and grace."

Sources:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starry_night
Stefanos Hilides :)

Salvador Dali - The persistence of memory

Rembrandt van Rijn - The Night Watch

Mystery in Art

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